Mike Vrabel: "I'm Going to Be Out There Today in Full Force." — Patriots Press Conference

[0:02] good to see everybody here in front center how are any more phones you guys are great [0:12] as you look to evaluate your group of receivers do you feel there's room to add a top receiver [0:20] if the opportunity presents itself perhaps even in the coming week uh well again we always and [0:28] again and when i say we that includes elliott ryan and stretch the coaching staff we want to [0:35] continue to improve the roster every opportunity that we get and when those opportunities arise [0:42] i don't know i know that the guys that we have here are working extremely hard i would say that [0:48] yesterday's first ota was much better than last year's i have to take the the coach's [0:57] opinion because i didn't go back and watch last year's first day but i felt like yesterday was [1:03] really positive um it's good to see romeo out there it was good to see some of the new faces [1:10] some of the young guys it was good to see you know kyle williams get some opportunities and chis and [1:15] you know so again we're going to look to strengthen the roster wherever we can but it was also a great [1:22] day to see guys that maybe didn't get as many opportunities last year especially romeo who wasn't [1:28] on our team last time we talked to you you apologized for the distraction sure and you talked about the [1:35] team being one of the things you were apologizing to how do you feel like you've been able to mitigate [1:40] if not completely erase that distraction well i mean again with that uh you know we all have to deal [1:46] with things um you know outside of here and and my focus and obviously the the excitement that i have for [1:53] coaching uh is what is most important right now and this is a great opportunity this spring we don't [1:59] have to worry about uh opponents we don't have to worry about uh you know our schedule is pretty much [2:05] the same the players just has a routine and each and every day in the spring is is similar um but it's [2:12] just about teaching it's about teaching these guys the the scheme we talked about having some [2:17] enhancements uh offensively and defensively and special teams of stuff that we did well [2:21] you know but that we'll have to you know either dress up or modify slightly so that's what the [2:28] spring's time is about and that's that's really all we know is being able to to coach these guys and [2:34] to teach them um help them help them do their job this is the time in the spring where they can focus [2:40] on you know not only conditioning but you know all the details that are going to help them so that's [2:45] really all i know and and that's really all i want to be able to do is everybody here for this [2:50] so yeah i think that that's always an important question and i know you guys probably brought your [2:55] binoculars uh i'll try to save you the binoculars uh and i'll give you a heads up on who won't be here [3:01] today but the spring you guys know um is voluntary you know there's a small uh mini camp that is mandatory [3:10] and again i'm familiar with that just my time as a player and what that is we would love to have [3:15] everybody here uh but that's not the reality that's not the reality in the nfl so um not there [3:22] won't be 100 participation or attendance uh at practice so um carlton david and let me just say [3:30] this like the guys that aren't here we communicate or guys that aren't at practice you know everybody's [3:35] got a different practice plan we've talked about that um but the communication has been great [3:40] uh for whatever reason that that guys um won't aren't at practice but carlton uh cd booty hollands gonzo [3:52] uh gabe and then i would say um you may not you know landry won't be at practice kyle dixon [4:01] you know and that's pretty much the guys that won't be at practice and with that practice go ahead mike [4:05] because you mentioned gonzo and it's just interesting on gonzo because he's eligible [4:17] for an extension for the first time how much of his um spring participation has been maybe [4:22] impacted by that dynamic of the contract i don't know what that again those are personal choices [4:29] for players i would say that i value the communication that i've had personally i know that [4:36] our defensive coaches that have had uh conversations with with christian um uh you know again i wish that [4:43] that they were all here uh so that we can coach them but the ones that that are here uh that's where [4:49] our focus will be and we'll pour everything that we have into those players um but i know that the you [4:56] know his his professionalism and and being ready uh to go or whatever personal choice that these you [5:03] know some guys have during the spring um you know i'm confident that they'll all be ready [5:09] go ahead when we spoke to you last you were talking about the balance of family and football [5:15] just how would you describe how that process has been going oh really good i think that that's uh [5:20] again i appreciate my family is great i love jen i love the boys i love you know my personal friends [5:26] and then you know this spring is focused on really the coaching staff uh the players more importantly [5:33] than the coaching staff but i just you know seeing the the coaches in the second year uh how smooth the [5:40] conversations are you know hey we love this play how do we make it better and then these guys they go [5:45] out and they find ways to to make it better and then we have conversations and then we decide on a few [5:50] things um that we're going to try to enhance the things that we did last year um the unique [5:56] thing about the players is there's 44 new players to our spring football and the spring football you [6:02] know what you'll see today is not necessarily what you guys will see at training camp um we have [6:07] certain rules we have specific rules they don't have pads on they just have a helmet so again it's a [6:13] we call it a passing camp you're going to see d linemen that are going to maybe rush and you're going to [6:18] be like well he stopped well that's because we've asked him to stop we've asked him to get off [6:23] make a move and then just kind of wait until the ball's thrown and hopefully they they run out of [6:29] the stack but the offensive linemen have to take a set they have to punch they have to stay inside out [6:35] but then also we're not trying to take a guy over into the quarterback obviously ever or into another [6:41] lineman the dbs can't really they have to avoid contact we're in maybe training camp that you know [6:47] those bang bang plays they they can have contact so we're trying to teach one the rookies those [6:54] spring nfl rules but then also those new players that came from other teams [7:00] how we practice in the spring and the inefficiency in which we move from from drill to drill so you [7:06] know there'll even be a jog through we put the runs in at the end of practice that we're trying to [7:10] install and you'll be like why are they look like they're going slow motion that's because it's it's a [7:16] jog through i don't want to run the football without pads on i don't think that's very productive [7:22] and the other thing is i try to explain to them is that we're going to need to have different tempos [7:26] of practice throughout the season we play on thursdays you're not going to be much practice on a [7:32] from a sunday to a thursday we have two thursday games and so as the season wears on we're going to [7:37] need different tempos and this is as part of that process like you need the room daily how have you felt [7:42] the players have responded to your not every day mike some of your sources probably aren't as good [7:47] i don't have a team meeting every single day in the spring almost every day all right close to [7:52] sometimes regardless most of the time you're in front of the room how have you felt like the players [7:58] have responded to your leadership because it was such a critical i don't i don't want to speak for [8:02] the players all i can do i feel great i feel like uh i'm trying to give them the information that [8:09] are going to help them do their job i've talked about this as far as the the importance of the [8:14] balance between their own success which leads to great things for for them and the people that they [8:23] care about but then also trying to manage that with with the team and that's a that's a fine balance of [8:30] the dynamic that we wage in this business of professional sports and i try to do that each day [8:37] i had a team meeting today we watched the practice clips we watched the you know the ones that that i [8:42] felt like were good uh even the the positive ones and then the ones that we need to focus on and those [8:47] weren't even mistakes some of them were you know a guy you know one or two extra steps into the middle [8:52] of the pocket or to the rush or um just little things on how we want to practice and the receivers [8:57] turning in and trying to get a block which was so critical to a lot of our uh x plays last year was [9:03] just something simple as a guy you know pop douglas or uh austin hooper turning and getting a block in [9:09] buffalo in a critical game uh on sunday night that that let digs go all the way to the five yard line [9:16] or kyle williams um blocking for remandre after a check down were backed up in the end zone against [9:22] the chargers that went for 50 yards and and really you know kind of swung the game uh in our favor from [9:28] being backed up so all those little plays that i can show them from the season those all start in [9:33] the spring we can't just say hey it's september you know let's start trying to practice our identity [9:39] are there any other um do you anticipate having to miss football activities again for the rest of [9:43] the spring i mean i can only tell you i'm gonna be there today but i can't tell you anything other [9:47] than uh i'm gonna be out there today in full force and and i mean that because you know who knows [9:55] what's going to come up i'm not even you know anything could happen and so i'm going to focus on [9:59] today um but and in the excitement that we've had and that we've built uh so far and the conditioning [10:06] that we've tried to incorporate into our practices and the weight lifting and all the things that are [10:10] critical he emphasized that he put on some weights this off season and that this year one year two [10:18] jump is going to be in his words like a very big deal um what have you seen from him in that in this [10:23] offseason well we've tried to um you know we always try to give players things that they've done well [10:29] and the things that they can try to enhance in the areas of focus and you know kyle's strength and [10:35] his ability to to manage as a speed player um has improved and he's really uh talking to the strength [10:44] coaches as he's embraced that idea of lifting and how critical that is for for all players but especially [10:50] a younger one uh as a receiver and you saw him really have some great flashes last year and then the [10:57] other thing that's really critical with receivers is once they can know more than one position [11:04] it really opens up their opportunities and what they can do as opposed to just being a one position [11:09] player uh kyle's now you know you'll see him at different places today mike uh we have not talked [11:15] to you since before the draft so i'm going to try to narrow this down um your thoughts on day three [11:21] when you weren't there um you know whether you regret that not being there and elliott said you [11:26] were not in contact but also what's the plan for and your thoughts on caleb lomu and okay um no i i [11:35] again they they moved around they made some trades uh and again this draft was was pretty unique um i i don't [11:44] know you know if it's really been talked about but they're just the volume of players in the draft [11:49] wasn't what it normally is and we saw a lot of players that went back um you know to school that [11:57] probably could have come out um i would imagine that that it's the nil and their ability to to go [12:04] back and and play for for being compensated in college so the numbers were were down and so the the [12:12] number of you know players in that pool was down so i just felt like that was interesting um we moved [12:18] around you know excited about the players that we got you know studied most of them they they knew my [12:25] affinity uh for the for some of the players that we took and then admittedly you know i don't know if [12:31] i'm going to know the the 300th player uh in every draft so uh as excited we had baron here on a visit [12:39] we had karan here on a visit uh studied um you know demetrius who just had a has had a son crown [12:48] over studied him just because at texas a&m had so many um draft worthy players so very familiar with [12:57] with most of those guys and then caleb um really one learning the pro game learning our system you [13:04] know and and some of the things that you see in college is is not that they can't do it it's just [13:09] that they're not being coached to do it and that's not that there's a lot of different ways to [13:15] to coach football and and what you believe and you know so some of the techniques are different [13:20] and i think he's really embraced those it's been a unbelievably coachable player it's just [13:28] there he's young right he's young he's big he's athletic uh and he's willing to learn he want he's [13:35] excited about learning and so where he plays we want to end up with the five best linemen i think he's [13:41] going to have the ability to to play both sides you can report that he'll be on the right today [13:46] i might get some snaps on the left uh but you guys know how this goes we played 10 linemen last year [13:52] we're gonna have to have five good ones that can protect drake uh as well as uh you know a swing [13:57] tackle you know we have to have somebody that goes inside uh and then we're gonna have to have somebody [14:02] that that pulls it uh as the backup center so um that's a long-winded answer about where [14:09] caleb's at but i'm excited about where he's at where he's going to eventually be i don't think [14:14] i can answer that right now mike what's your communication with kashaun booty and what are [14:19] your expectations for him heading into this offseason well just really the offseason i think is over we're [14:26] on to really just the the preseason i mean that's what we have to look at it as my again i have a great [14:32] amount of respect for kashaun and watching him mature and grow through the the entire time that we spent [14:39] together uh that's a credit to kashaun that's a credit to todd downing um and just the communication [14:46] is hey you you know how you doing one you're working hard and yeah i like like where i'm working out at [14:51] okay um you know we'll we'll be here ready to coach you uh you know when when you're here so that's been [14:59] very positive and uh you know i would imagine that he would pick up where he left off uh and grow on on [15:06] the season that he had last year final question you mentioned that christian gonzalez isn't going [15:11] to be practicing today is he with the team right now i mean i could again his specifics about [15:16] everybody's whereabouts i love the communication that i've had uh with with everybody um so again [15:23] whenever you know he's out on the practice field you know we'll be able to coach him you guys will be [15:27] able to see him and you guys will be able to report on him kairos tong was such an important piece [15:33] your defensive front last year seemed like there weren't any veterans added to replace him is that [15:37] a spot where you'd like to see a corey durden or a young player step up or would you maybe i think [15:41] corey already has or corey already did you know i mean i think he proved that and again nobody was [15:46] happier for for tonga than than me personally and what he was able to do for us and that's the beauty [15:53] of the national you know i mean of professional sports he came here we wanted him back got a better offer [16:00] and you know i mean he had that's what he had to do and that's what he that's what he should have [16:05] done and so i'm going to support him uh and his family but we're also excited you know lenny t uh [16:11] you know lenny t leonard taylor worked with us eric gregory worked with us these guys are are proving [16:18] and that they want to be there josh farmer uh back healthy but but corey um you know i think probably [16:26] coming out of last year uh would would be that uh on paper again there'll be a competition in in [16:32] training camp um but i think that that's a good group we the lines of scrimmage are critical to you [16:39] know the question about caleb and our offensive line but we talk about our defensive linemen our [16:45] offensive linemen they have to be our identity soldiers and the warriors that carry the message and [16:51] the way that they play when big dudes run and hit people you can make an impact on the game so you [16:58] saw a lot of those guys that came out of the stack that made plays corey was one of them milt you know [17:03] on and on and on so that's what they're going to be practicing today and hopefully you guys see that [17:08] and hopefully they're just not running into anybody uh when they come out of the stack so mike thoughts [17:13] on the last thoughts on the schedule specifically the challenge of the seattle opener well playing the in [17:20] seattle playing the seahawks and defending super bowl champions that that would be a tough game uh [17:26] win and wherever we played it um but i think we'll eventually be ready for the challenge we're [17:32] we're clearly not ready for it yet i don't think anybody is but that's what we'll build to uh we'll [17:37] have to you know so many different times handle the environment and that'll that'll test us uh early [17:44] so that'll be something that that will focus on uh through training camp excited about the rest of [17:49] the schedule um you know but just you know we'll have to play in the heat we'll have to play in [17:55] munich we'll have to play on on thursday night with a short turnaround we'll have long breaks so have to [18:01] be some creativity on you know going 13 days between games is is somewhat unique we have that a couple [18:07] times maybe there's short turnarounds with long breaks uh it'll be all of our jobs to make sure that [18:13] the players are ready uh when and where we play thank you